Sassafras Summer is a well written romance. I enjoyed the plot, the author's writing and the characters. This author is new to me and I will be reading more of her books. I recommend to fans of romance novels.

I wanted to like this book. I was looking for something light and quick after reading several novels of great length and heavy material. Disappointingly, this book as a little too light.

From the first pages, I had issues with the main character. Passing off obnoxious and rude behavior from an adult as something cute and funny is one of my biggest pet peeves in reading "romance" books. Annie just wasn't likable. She depends on her mother to give her a place to stay, asks for money and throws a fit when she doesn't get it and is just incredibly disrespectful toward her.

Then we have the relationship between her and Jax. He goes from being cold and distant to wanting to rip her clothes off in the span of a day? I felt no chemistry between the two before they were jumping into bed together. And his "romantic" gestures weren't all that romantic.

I was ready to shelve the book after the first couple chapters but stuck with it hoping it would get better. That was a mistake and I marked it as DNF at page 45.

Sassafras Summer by Carol Owen is a light beach read about Annie Hughes, who's falling apart and her going to see her mom, Dorie, in North Carolina. When Annie arrives she discovers her mom is living with a man, Jackson, and is getting married soon. Jax, Jackson's son returns home from overseas, as Annie arrives. Neither child is happy their parents are together, plus they are attracted to each other. This book was just OK, I felt it dragged out in spots.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.